Shark attack: 'I've never felt fear like it until I was inside those jaws'

An Australian diver who survived being half-swallowed head first by a great white shark described yesterday how he managed to wriggle free from its jaws after jabbing it in the eye with one free hand.

Eric Nerhus, who was collecting abalone, a type of shellfish, when the 10ft shark attacked him in murky waters off southern New South Wales, said he felt it sink its teeth into his lead-weight vest. "I've never felt fear like it till I was inside those jaws, with those teeth getting dragged across my body," he told the Nine television network from his hospital bed.

Mr Nerhus, 41, was with his son and several other divers, about 25ft underwater, when the shark struck, knocking his regulator - and oxygen supply - out of his mouth. He estimated that he spent two minutes inside its open jaws.

"I went straight into its mouth, front onwards," he said. "My shoulders, my head and one arm went straight down into its throat. I could feel the teeth crunching up and down on my weight vest. Half my body was in its mouth." Mr Nerhus, who was helped into a boat by his son after he surfaced, said: "I put my left arm down the side of its face ... I poked my fingers into the eye socket... it opened its mouth a bit, and I just tried to wriggle out." He also jabbed it with his abalone chisel. "It was still trying to bite me. It crushed my goggles into my nose and they fell into its mouth," he said.

As he pulled his head out, he said, the shark crushed his face mask, breaking his nose. Once free, he grabbed his regulator and swam slowly upwards in a cloud of his own blood, fearing that that the shark would attack again. "It was just circling around my flippers, around and around, in tight circles," he said. "The big round black eye, five inches wide, was staring straight into my face with just not one hint of fear, of any boat, or any human, or any other animal in the sea."

Mr Nerhus was flown to hospital, where he was treated for multiple lacerations. "I couldn't think of a worse way to go than to end up as fish food," he said. "That's why I fought back. I was determined I didn't want to go like that. I like life too much."

Shark experts believe that the shark mistook him for a seal, which are common in south-eastern Australia. Grant Willis, of the Sydney Aquarium, suggested that after biting Mr Nerhus it probably realised "he didn't taste anything like a seal - sort of a bit bony and horrible... so possibly it spat [him] back out".

"He's had a run-in with one of the ocean's most formidable predators and he's lived to tell the story," Mr Willis said. "He's a very, very lucky man."

Scientists say that, on average, there are about 15 shark attacks a year in Australian waters, one of which is likely to be fatal.